My friend R. and I were chatting about food while cleaning up in the kitchen after dinner. Then, I told him: “Tu sais, ça fait des années que je veux voir la récolte des canneberges,” (You know, it’s been years since I wanted to see the harvest of cranberries).

“Ah bon ?” he exclaimed, surprised.

I looked at him. He became quiet. He’s thinking, I thought. I could see it. He’s cooking something!

“I think I can help,” he said, with a glorious smile lighting his face.

It’s one of the many nice things I like about R. The fact that he’s têtu comme une mule (stubborn like a mule), persistent — did I say before that he’s a medical doctor? — and that he’s always enthusiastic about anything that’s in relation with food. We’re friends because of that too.

A few days after we talked, he emailed me.

“C’est fait!” (Done!) he wrote.”You’re all set. Going to visit a cranberry bog.”

“How did you do it?” I wrote back.

“I know people,” he had casually added.

What he actually meant was that he had written to a friend working at Ocean Spray, and one thing leading to another, he managed to plan the visit to a cranberry farm for me.

He might not have known it, but that simple thing made me really happy!

On Thursday, we woke up to a bright sunny day. That’s really lucky! I thought. It had rained the entire day before.

“Lulu, on va voir des champs de canneberges** aujourd’hui,” (Lulu, we’ll see cranberry bogs today,) I told her as I was slipping a cozy jacket and a warm hat over her head. It might be windy on the bog, Jennifer, our guide, had warned me. Bring layers!

My friend E. was going to come with me. While waiting for her, I ate one bowl, or rather two, of warm spicy sweet potato and butternut squash soup to keep my energy up, and I packed a few hard-boiled eggs and an avocado comté sandwich along with Lulu’s lunch, cumin-flavored mashed vegetables and stewed peaches I had prepared for her. I knew it was going to be a beautiful day.

** Perhaps the right term is cannebergière, but I like the way words like “champs de canneberges” sound.

Cranberry and apple crumble

It’s hard to know where to start. During the few hours we spent with Jennifer, I learned so much. My eyes were taken by so much beauty as I watched beautiful shades of red coloring the ground generously. Like a happy painting.

It took us forty five minutes to drive south to Carver. As soon as we got out of the car, Lulu looked around swiftly, stared for ten seconds and then started to smile and laugh. I looked around too, and just realized that I wanted to do the same. I was so happy to finally see a cranberry bog in real life!

A tall man with a generous look on his face walked in our direction to greet us. He was Larry, the owner of the farm. With his brother, he started to tell us about the farm and how the harvest takes place. I was all ears. I had my questions ready too.

Cranberries are harvested in various states throughout the United States. Wisconsin is the biggest cranberry supplier, but Massachusetts, Maine, and neighboring states in Canada like Nova Scotia, Québec and New Brunswick have a fair amount of cranberry growers too. To do well, cranberries need an acidic soil to grow, and a climate that combines cold winters — even if they are sensitive to ice and snow — and warm summers, just like in New England.

It takes a year for a crop of cranberries to be ready. Ninety percent of the time, the bog remains dry. Then, by mi-September each year, when the cranberries are ripe, the bog is flooded, ready for harvesting. The harvest will then last until about the end of October. It’s a cycle that repeats every year, with crops better some years than others.

“Many of the farmers believe in Mother Nature,” Jennifer said. “If a crop is good one year, it’s partially because of the weather, of course, but it’s also due to what Nature keeps for us,” she told me her growers often report.

When the bog is flooded, while under water, the cranberries are still attached to the vine. Harvesters drive across the entire the bog on a machine — resembling a tall tractor — that detaches the cranberries from the vine. Once this done, the cranberries are gathered in one area to facilitate the harvest (called corralling). They are pumped, washed and then transferred to a truck.

The process is simple and beautiful to watch. Lulu enjoyed it as much as E. and I did.

“Do you want to taste a fresh cranberry?” Larry said, picking a berry between his big fingers.

“Can I?”

“Sure!” he said, laughing.

He took a knife out of his pocket, cut the berry he was holding open and held it to me. I bite in the fruit, not sure what to expect. “Wow!,” I said, making a face after I swallowed the fruit. It tasted tart. But I liked it. I had to try again. I popped another piece in my mouth. The taste was becoming addictive.

“It reminds me of a red currant,” I told Larry.

“Here!” he said, holding large bags of plump cranberries for me to bring home. For some odd reason, they looked much bigger than the ones I was used to seeing in the store.

“That’s a lot of cranberries,” I said, laughing. He responded something, I knew, but I was already lost in thoughts of what I was going to make with my precious freshly harvested fruit.

Cranberry upside down cake

And once we were back home, later that night, the first thing I baked was a cranberry and apple crumble. And I made an upside down cranberry cake and cranberry sauce too, thinking that, somehow, the cranberries looked almost as pretty served on the table as they did when they were floating on their bed of water.

Almost!

Cranberry sauce — Cranberry and apple crumble

Cranberry sauce

Makes 1 2/3 cups

You need:

3 cups fresh cranberries (300 g)

2/3 cup blond cane sugar

3/4 cup water

1 stick cinnamon

4 cardamom pods

Steps:

In a small pot, bring water and sugar with spices to a simmer, until sugar is dissolved.

Add the cranberries and bring to a simmer.

Once the berries have burst, cook on low heat, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove from the stove and let cool completely at room temperature. Discard the cardamom pods and cinnamon stick. The sauce thickens as it cools. Store in the fridge. I like to add mine to plain yogurt with granola, even if it’s really known as an accompaniment to savory foods.

Cranberry and apple crumble

For 6 servings

You need:
For the fruit:

2 apples

2 cups halved cranberries (200 g)

1/3 cup blond cane sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon cornstarch

For the topping:

1/3 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup walnuts

Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup quinoa flour

1/3 cup almond meal

1/2 cup light brown sugar

7.5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature, diced

You’ll have leftovers of topping, which you can store in the fridge for a few days, or freeze for future uses

Steps:

Preheat the oven at 350 F and have 6 small ramekins ready. Butter them and set aside.

In a bowl, combine the cranberries, apples, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Divide between the ramekins.

Chop the walnuts coarsely.

To prepare the crumble topping, in a bowl, combine the buckwheat and quinoa flours. Add the almond meal, light brown sugar, walnuts and lemon zest.

Add the butter and using the tip of your fingers, work the ingredients together to obtain crumbles.

Add on top of the fruit.

Bake the crumbles for 30 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbly and the top is golden. Let cool and server lukewarm with plain yogurt.

Oh, your post makes me want to cry! I grew up in Marshfield, Massachusetts—my bus stop was actually the mounded up dirt on the side of a cranberry bog. My parents now live a couple towns over from Carver, and every autumn I fly out to see them. The fall is my favorite time of year, and nothing makes me happier than a cranberry bog being harvested in Plymouth county. Unfortunately, I can’t be there this year, and your post brings back lots of beautiful memories. Thank you!
I love the shot of the man in the hat, by the way, and the shot of the chubby little hand reaching into the cranberries.

I know it’s already been used, but stunning really is the best description of your photos – both at the cranberry bog and of the wonderful dishes you made. Lulu is a lucky little girl to have had such an experience.

I have long admired your site and wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying it! I am also learning french so the french you use is so nice for me to see :). These recipes look really good. Do you have the recipe for the cranberry upside down cake too for us?

Wow how fantastic, I adore the images of floating red berries as far as the eye can see. I would love to try a fresh tart cranberry too, alas we only get the already sweetened dried “craisins” here. A truly beautiful post!

You never fail to inspire me. I tend to give all your recipes a try and this one will be no different. You make this fashion type return to her undercover foodie indulgence weekly! I adore cranberries, again thank you!

Fantastic chance you had to visit a cranberry bog. A see of cranberries….magnifique! Et cette petite Lulu…Elle a du s’en mettre plein les yeux!
I love how your photos are always so fresh, always inspired. Like you

You’ve inspired me to make something wonderful with cranberries this season besides relish and bread. Delicious recipes, great photos. I love all the shades of blues and reds and pinks. But it’s Lulu that steals the show once again!

Amazing sight! What a treat. And a very interesting article to read.
Will you PLEASE give us your recipe for the upside down cake? It looks wonderful and one I could do with plums int he absence of cranberries (not easy to find in Rome)? Please?

Wow that is such an amazing day out. I also very very interesting, I was fascintated by how the cranberries grow, also how they harvest. We do get cranberries here in the UK but nothing compared and they are so expensive. Your photos are brilliant, have you ever made a calendar?

Yes can we please have the recipe for your upside – down cake..thank you.

What a great post! Thank you for the explanation, I had no idea that was how cranberries were harvested, or that it looked like that at all. And I just loved the pictures of bébé sticking her hand into the cranberries, amongst all the other gorgeous pictures. Now I want to visit a cranberry bog too…

Bea, your photos are wonderful, your writing inspiring, and your recipes delicious! I can’t wait to try this…
I had no idea this is how cranberries are harvested, so thank you for teaching me something new today!

I saw the process only on TV and have been wanting to see cranberry harvest in actuality… you’re lucky. Appreciate your beautiful photos and stories.. boy, those desserts you’ve prepared with them look so good! :o)

so lovely! i used to live right near carver, when i would drive by in october and see the sea of red- it was magical! iwould sit there and watch and think how everyone should see the harvesting! your pictures are gorgeous what a lovely day it must have been!

Your pictures are gorgeous and you reminded me that I probably once again missed the harvesting season up in WI. I’ve been trying to make it over there for the past 5 years, but each time work gets hectic and I remember about it too late. I’ll definitely try your recipes though, they look amazing, and I’ll pretend that next year I’ll definitely make it there in time!

Wow this post is so interesting and beautiful. I had heard about cranberries being harvested in a bog but I couldn’t work out why farmers would put them in water to harvest in the first place!
Cranberries are definitely not grown in South Africa but butternut soup is practically an institution. I add a little orange zest to mine just before serving (very finely grated), others add a little curry flavour.
One Christmas I had a bag of cranberries in my freezer and I made cranberry mincemeat for mince pies which was a nice alternative to the dried fruit version which is a bit too sweet. Cant wait for your next post, you are such an inspiration.
Thank you.

How truly wonderful Bea! I’ve always wanted to be there when cranberries are harvested – thank you for taking me on this virtual tour! and look at Lulu. oh Bea how time flies when we live it through our children. Even after 7 years of motherhood I am always amazed at the new things we learn from them.
Really like the variety of recipes here with cranberries. I have been cooking with them quite a lot lately too.

Most people would just answer something like; ‘Yeah, that would be great!’…
You are very lucky, which you seem fully aware of, to have a friend who will go through the fuss of arranging something like this just to make you happy. Some people really are out of the ordinary.

Beautiful story, Bea! And gorgeous photos! I love the picture of Lulu, watching the prosses of picking cranberries! And of cause the crumble picture;)

In Russia cranberry – is a usual thing. We used to pick it up ourselves each summer, during our holidays at the north of Russia. We always made a lot of cranberry jam, tarts and pies with cranberry and this year – two of my favs are cranberry and buckwheat clafoutis and cranberry and apple chutney.

Thank you…I just learned so much about cranberries, which I love. I also love the different flours you’ve used in your cake recipe. Where do you find Quinoa flour? I’ve looked and looked and can’t seem to find here (Toronto).

Thank you for sharing this amazing experience ! Looooved the pictures, so beautiful ! In Brazil, where I am from, there are no cranberries. The first time I came to visit the U.S., I felt in love with the taste and color of the juice and then the fruit !!!
I also love the name you gave to your precious daughter, Lulu, so cute, just like her !

I have never dreamed that the Cranberry harvest was made this way! We do not have Cranberries in Brazil and it´s very difficult even to find the dry ones, so I was very pleased to learn more about it! The pictures are breathtaking, you sure have captured the beauty in all splendor! Thanks for sharing with us!
Love from Brazil!

I did know that the harvesting of cranberries was so beautiful. I feel strange about it since I live in Quebec. Thanks for sharing your visit at the cranberry bog. The crumble and the upside down cake are tempting. I will bake those while the fruits are still in season.

This is one of the most beautiful blog posts I’ve ever seen! Thank you!! Living in the desert, I had no idea that cranberries grew in bogs. This is one more thing on my list of things that I must see in person!!

My cousin just posted this link to her Facebook page and I wanted to personally say thank you! Larry is my uncle and his brother, Paul, is my father. I have been living in Arizona for the past six years and have missed being home during harvest. So it was a special treat to not only see pictures of our bogs, but to also see them of my family. Continue the fantastic work; I will be trying these recipes, the cranberry-apple crumble in particular, shortly!

I found your blog through Sue’s cousin’s link on her facebook page as well. Sue’s cousin is a dear friend. This year my son and daughter-in-law were visiting from Alabama. My daughter-in-law had never seen a bog, or a cranberry harvest either. Sarah, who is Larry’s daughter took us to Carver to watch the Harju Brother’s harvest their fruit. We have some wonderful photos as well and were thrilled to see yours. It was a fun day for us to teach our daughter-in-law about cranberry harvesting. Larry and Paul’s mother and father were at the bog the day we were there and Mrs. Harju had Sarah give me some of the home made cranberry sauce that she had made. It was wonderful. Thank you for posting the story and the photos. It was a fun surprise to see photos of people we know. I am sending the link to my daughter-in-law. She will be thrilled to see your photos. They will bring fond memories to her. Thanks especially for the recipes. I will be trying each one.

Oh, I’m so jealous! I’ve driven by the bogs when we lived in the Boston area (7 years) but never had a tour. How lucky you all are – and a beautiful day too! And of course, thanks for the recipe ideas!

Béatrice Peltre is a food writer, stylist and photographer working out of her home studio in Boston.
She is a regular contributor to the Boston Globe Food Section, and her work has appeared in many publications
such as Saveur, Food and Wine, Whole Living, Fine Cooking, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, the Huffington Post,
the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Edible Boston, Living France, the New York Times Diner’s Journal,
and in many other international magazines.